Dear all,
Here’s more information on the dance-learning and enjoying events.
7 days before the NFF starts, you are invited to 3 days and evenings of fantastic dancing at University House at the Australian National University, our venue this year for the Jane Austen Festival Australia (JAFA). There’s cheap accommodation on-site for interstaters and if it’s dance you want, we have Regency era dance workshops from 9am to 5pm on Friday and Saturday, some dancing at the dinner variety night on Friday night, a Festival ball from 6:30 to 11pm on Saturday night and a Cotillion ball from 2pm to 6:30pm on the Sunday (dancing to top music from a 7 piece Earthly Delights which includes a guest Sydney violinist friend).
Every year we vary the workshop and dance themes and this year, in between some beloved favourites, we will be enjoying great music and dances from lots of little used sources—an inscribed fan, three manuals by the London master G.M.S. Chivers, a country dance book written by a freed African slave, and Jane Austen’s own music books.
We will also be making a feature of country dance-quadrille hybrids (dance forms such as the ‘Ecossaise’, the ‘Spanish dance’, the ‘Swedish dance’, the ‘Mescolanze’, and the’ Union dance’), of dances known to be enjoyed at the trend-setting Paris Opera balls (the wonderful ‘cotillion’ dance form), and of set dances that incorporated music or figures from the two big couples dances of the Jane Austen’s time, the allemande and waltzing.
You’ll be surprised to learn dozens of ways the dancing of c.1800 England connects with that of c.1850 Australia and America. You’ll be hard pressed not to laugh when you discover the comic twist in La Méditiation des Chinois and in the Moscovian Quadrilles. We have over a hundred people booked already for our JAFA balls but can accommodate more, so please join us! Appropriate dress doesn’t have to be an obstacle … some people will wear beautiful period costumes but any attempt to get into the period spirit is acceptable and will be appreciated (e.g. a nice shirt and waist-coat for a man, or empire-line dress for a woman).
Straight after JAFA we have another 3 days of dancing to great live-music at our Yarrangobilly 19th century dance and costume retreat—the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday immediately before Easter. We are now booked out at our Caves House venue but you could join us as a day-tripper or take some overnight accommodation in the nearby district. If interested do contact us and we can give you some accommodation leads.
Just as JAFA has turned into a premier Regency era dance event, so Yarrangobilly is turning into a premier Victorian era dance event—so hope you can fit one or both into your run up to Easter.
Warmest regards,
John Gardiner-Garden
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